DEMING - A two-day ordeal that started in Deming on the day before Thanksgiving, ended with a happy reunion for a Las Cruces woman and her 18-year-old dog Trooper.

Carrie Credur, 51, had spent the night in a Deming hotel while traveling on business and made an early morning stop at a local convenience store for a cup of coffee.

"It was chilly that morning and I left the car running to keep Trooper warm," Credur said while recalling the events of Wednesday, Nov. 23. Trooper is dachshund-Chihuahua mix who travels with Credur in the back seat of her white 2005 Ford Freestyle.

"I'm at the counter paying for my coffee and I look up and see my car driving away," Credur said. "I couldn't believe it! I was more concerned for Trooper. He's an old dog. We adopted him from the pound in 2000 when he was 2 years old."

In tears, Credur borrowed a phone and called her mother in Las Cruces. Deming Police took a report of the incident and her mother drove to Deming to pick up Credur.

"I cried all the way home,' Credur recalled.

Once in Las Cruces, she called her son and the two began tracking her phone, which was in her purse in the stolen vehicle. "We could see the car was headed to El Paso," she said. A call to New Mexico State Police went nowhere as the vehicle drove out of New Mexico law enforcement's jurisdiction.

The El Paso Auto Theft Task Force picked up the scent of the stolen vehicle while Credur and her son hopped in a car and drove to the last "ping" location of her cell phone.

At 10:15 a.m. that morning, Credur sent a text message to her phone, but the suspect had turned it off. A short time later, Credeur received a call from the task force telling her they had found her vehicle and arrested a man.

"They told police where he dropped off Trooper and my son and I combed the neighborhood looking for my dog," Credur said.

Her search intensified and expanded deeper into the area, but came up empty. Five hours into the search, Credur received word through social media that the dog had been dropped off at the El Paso Humane Society's parking lot.

Credur and her mother picked up Trooper on Friday, Nov. 25, at the humane society. "He was confused, but in good shape," Credur said.